I am trying to configure a proftb server to respond to two different type of user. One being Myself as a super user that has access to everything on the hard drive and another user called "guest" that only has access to a particular directory on the server.


I am having one heck of a time trying to set this up. I had the same scenario done with wu-ftp. But I can't seem to get it with proftpd. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

The "super user" account will also need to have access permissions on the local filesystem, generally speaking this is not a very good idea. For the guest setup you can configure use chroot to that directory, and map it to an arbitrary account with minimal priviledge(default anonymous configuration in the sample config file?).

Thanks for the reply. But That was way over my head.

"The "super user" account will also need to have access permissions on the local filesystem, "

I have given the "htdocs" folder 775 with kevin:root owner:group. when I FTP in, I still cannot get to in htdocs. I only go to /home/kevin/. I have also changed the "DefaultRoot /htdocs" but no luck. I can't figure out what I doing wrong! I even placed in "RootLogin on" and I still could not get in. Following are some info for the reader:


I have given myself
user "kevin"
group "root"
home directory "/home/kevin"
command interperetor "/bin/bash"
id "500"

I am using the stock proftpd.conf file. I have taken out the anonumous part out because, I donot want a log in as such. I would like to a guest user to go to a directory

ServerName "ProFTPD Default Installation"
ServerType standalone
DefaultServer on

Port 21

Umask 022

MaxInstances 30

User kevin
Group kevin

#DefaultRoot ~

<Directory />
AllowOverwrite on
</Directory>


SHould guest be anonymous?

OK I changed the home directory to kevin to "/" I can now get when I ftp via the browser. Is that safe?

But I cannot use a ftp software to get in. Why?

If you want your guest users to login without providing a valid username and password then yeah you should use anonymous. By default the anonymou configure will chroot and chdir the directory you specified in the directive.
So for example with this configuration:
When the anonymous user logs in the ftp, the root directory in their ftp client will be /home/ftp on the server's filesystem, with the filesystem privege of the local user account "ftp" which it is mapped to.

What the error message on the ftp client?

No, I do want my user named "guest" to be password authenticated. So in that case you are saying that I should take out the anonymous section correct?


it is bizarre, I just came home from work and I can't get connected to the ftp via browsers from home, but I can get connected from work ( I have MS remote desktop available).

What is going on?

Trying to ftp to server using AceFTP client, i get the message. FTP folder error. Make sure you have permission access to that folder. FYI, I can get connected to the server from the office!

What am I doing wrong?

thats a little bit easier than
create a guest account with its password, add him to his own group say "guests", set the home directory to the directory you only want the account to access(eg /home/guest/), then add something like this to proftpd config
As for the ftp client, are you sure the permissions on the directories you want to access are correct? Can you check the proftpd log file?

Unfortunately, I can't verify the permission right now, but I did set it kevin:root.


And, as I go into my computer remotely at work right now, i can get conneted but not from home.


ps. is there any way I can get a sample proftd.conf that would work with my scenario?